Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $63.67 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.6667.

ESNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Essent Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. DOWLING & PARTN downgraded Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $60.00 price target on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Compass Point restated a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $63.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.25. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.86. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $51.61 and a 12 month high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $319.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.46 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 56.36%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Essent Group will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.10%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total transaction of $404,735.74. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,647,050.48. The trade was a 19.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 3,760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total value of $233,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 247,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,315,426. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,950 shares of company stock worth $919,651. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Essent Group in the first quarter valued at $993,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Essent Group by 280.5% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 10,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 7,614 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the first quarter worth $332,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 16.6% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 66.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.